Life

 

Life has a funny way to make me fall, but it also has a great way to lift me up. Lately things are improving little by little, and I've had a couple of surprises on the way.
It's currently summer vacations here,but I'm still waiting to know the exams results to know if I'll have to repeat any of them, and after that university to my photography degree!:)

I've also started on a healty diet,I've started to change some eating habits a couple of months ago but nothing crazy, but this past week I went to a nutritionist appointment and learned a few things so I'm thrilled about it, not because I'm fat and unhappy with my body, I'm the typical pear shaped girl with curvy hips that is loved just the way she is.
But I want to change my habits for my healt at all levels,it will help me to feel even better about myself both on the inside and out.

Another thing I'm hyped about is my new aquisition of photography material. I will make a post about that later though ;)

So I leave you with this work,a peacock from Jardim Público de Évora - I took this photo while on easter vacations with my boyfriend and his parents :) I love these birds, so majestic and elegant, with lovely colors and patterns!

Have a great week!

*See more works on my facebook

Still alive

I haven't publish anything here for quite a while, I haven't had time to do anything lately >.<
Today I decided to give the blog a little update just to say I'm still alive and super excited!:D I'm planing some portrait photos (and selfportraits too if I'm able to) because they are one of the big flaws on my portfolio!
I've studied the basics of portrait photography but I know I'm a little limited due to my equipment,still I'll try my best!:) I'll also have a huge help from my boyfriend, he has been my haven and support theses past months,he gives me so much support and strength to follow my dreams it almost makes me doubt him xD
So here stays a photo that I haven't published here yet, a female snowy owl!:)

235mm f/7.1 @Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa

You can see more works on my Facebook Page! :)

New lens has arrived!:)

 

My new lens arrived yesterday!:) I woke up at 9 AM and waited the whole morning for the courier that only arrived at 2:22PM! Since it was the first time I purchased a lens, and it came from Italy, I was pretty nervous and a single morning seemed like an intire day! But thankfully,it arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out! I called my boyfriend and we went to a little farm nearby, for our misfortune it started raining heavily when we got there, so we spent most of the time under a shed, but still I got some pretty decent shots and I was very happy about it!


Here is my favorite picture of the day, a pidgeon under the heavy rain!I don't know why he didn't look out for some shelter, maybe the fresh rain felt good after the intense summer heat we had for the past couple of months.

Taken at 250mm f/5.6

Almost here!

"Monday, September 24, 2012
Processed at LISBON - PORTUGAL LISBON - PORTUGAL 6:20 PM"
I'm SO HAPPY!!!*-* Tomorrow I will have my new Canon Lens!!!It's not one from the L series but it was the most indicated for me since I'm still a student but want to follow photography as my profession and I need to build up a good portfolio

I can't wait to have it in my hands and try it out! It will be a huge step on my photos since it will allow me to do better wildlife and start on portraits for real

I already have some projects on my mind so expect something in the next month or so (it will depend on school work, I will finish this november so I have tons of works until there)

When I started this blog I wanted to share information, learn more and help others but time and patiente wasn't on my side since school took so much time, I barely had time to relax my mind these past few months but my main idea still stands so I will try to write some informative posts in the future :) to do that I wanted to know what you would like to read about,if you have questions or doubts,what are the themes you like,etc...

Dandelion on my yard, inverted lens

Quick update

Just a quick post to say that I'm still alive, buried with school work :D I've been practicing some new macro techniques since I don't have much time to travel :(

Still here are two photos of Sintra! :D I'm planing to go there again soon!It is a terrific place to practice photography and to take long long walks along with nature and my loved one ^^ We just love that place, it has a very romantic and mistic atmosphere <3

See more photos at my Facebook page!

Inverted lens macro photography

So I've always loved macro photography but I don't have a macro lens, I've seen some macro shots were people talked about inverted lens,so I decided to try it my own way :D So here is the result, not the best photos ever but for the first try I kind of like them!^^

I used a blue candle, silver glitter and of course some water! Weird mix but sometimes my mind comes up with these kind of things :3

Losing hope

This little fellow is a baby chimp from the lisbon's zoo. I know most animal suporters are against zoos but honestly I support them,not the "we use animals for profit" kind of zoo but the "we live for animals" kind.

Seriously,if we didn't had zoos and natural reserves many species would be exctinct. for example the white tiger,there are only 100 to 130 tigers in the WORLD and they all live in zoos or reserves. there aren't white tigers in the wild anymore,and if zoos didn't exist,they would probably be extinc by now since the human being anihilates them.Lisbon's zoo has had 3 offsprings of white tigers this past year and that is great news,it means the species are staying alive.

It's something that really scares me,a world without animals.Even with animal's rights,world wide organizations protecting them, and a lot of attemps of those organizations to make people see how the planet earth is in danger,nobody really seems to care...

Am I dumb to think that we should try and help those beings that the men are trying to make disapear for money? Or are them already lost to a world of greed? Do people realize that some species are fading away this fast? Or do people think that it doesn't matter if you kill them,they will never get extinct?

I can't understand,maybe I'm just a soft heart for animals and nature and I can't see the full picture, society will always rule and money will always talk louder,what can a teenager do anyway? I do the best I can to help the planet,but honestly it feels like nothing, and that makes me lose all hope...

You can help save the tiger!

There are as few as 3,200 tigers surviving in the world's forests in this, the Chinese Year of the Tiger.

The scientists say the situation is so bad, that the tiger faces extinction in the wild by the time of the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.

WWF will not let this happen. Instead, we want to double the number of tigers by 2022...

Find how you can help WWF here "You can help save the tiger!"

Mom's Flowers

The rain here is pouring down for hours, so I felt the need to try some photos with my mom's flowers :3 just because I Love flowers with drops of water, they always look fresh and peaceful but still full of life and color!

The two photos above were taken with my canon 1000D,the picture beneath was taken with my panasonic dmc-zx1 because this camera has a macro mode, and with my canon I can't get that close up pictures (I don't have the right lens :( )

Don't you just love macro shots?>3<

Hope you like them!I sure had fun taking them!:)

Happy

Did the driving exam today,was raining like hell,but I passed!Now I can't wait to explore all those places far from the city with my loved one and take a lot of photographs <3

Little Blossom

I've just realized that winter is here to stay and that for the next few months the nature won't be so colorful,so i decided to make a post with a flower blossoming in the sun :)

Take care!

Fimo Earrings

Today I woke up happy,but very fast my happiness went away and I needed something to disctract me,so I decided to play a little with fimo!

I spent the past few weeks gathering thing to do earrings and other stuff,so today I decided to try and do something!
So what better symbol of autumn than MUSHROOMS!:D

They are not great,but for the first earring experience with fimo I think they are okay.

I've always loved to do little crafts like this, never really had the time/materials for it,but I'm trying to really invest in it now,gathering up materials little by little.

Here is one of the earrings to see how it looks on the ear

World Animal Day

Today (October 4th) is the world animal day!So the picture of today is about animals! In this case, my dogs ^^

In the above picture you can see Didi (B&W female) and Tomás (male german shepherd), they are two of my four dogs and they get along really well,she is much older than Tomás and way more peaceful. He, on the other hand, just wants to play and play till the end of the day!

I picked this photo because it shows the unconditional love and care that animals share, the dedication... So many times we , the human being, are cruel to them,we kill them for food,to make clothes,purses...sometimes we just kill them because we think it is funny. It is really disgusting.

Instead of being the racional animal,we are monsters with no compassion. It makes my blood boil when people defend bullfighting, saying that it is a cultural thing, that there are paintings about it made by important painters, so we (the animal right defenders) are ignorants! Claiming that if the bullfighting industry would end, the bulls would be extinct too.

People, WHAT THE HELL??

the human being is responsible for many extinctions and surely isn't a "spectacle" of torture and death that will keep the species alive!
Bulls always lived peacefully in the fields, like cows,sheeps,pigs. Give them their habitats and they don't need the human to survive,believe me, they will gladly say goodbye to us!

Culture. Killing inocent animals is culture?there are paintings about that? wow
Then why don't we hang people in the public square like we used to?
Maybe we should get a new Hitler, since he tried out for art school (and he was pretty good at it!).
Why can't we follow some paintings examples and live in harmony with nature?

Some people really don't learn. We need to respect the other living beings, even if it doesn't have eyes to look back at us, or a mouth to beg for is's life...even a tree,or a flower.
Humans probably forget that without trees, we wouldn't even be alive.

Well I won't write anymore because this is an angry and sleepy post, so it must have a lot of grammar mistakes :3 I'll work on that later!

Happy world animal day everyone! Enjoy the day and show your pets just how much you love them!

Note: If you got the wrong idea,no I'm not an apologistof the nazi ideals.

I still believe

Sintra,2011

I'm so sick of living in the city,I'm dying to spend some time in the country side and breath some pure air.

It's getting worse day by day, traffic,pollution, buses full of people that don't bathe and don't respect others,shopping malls that are as hot as a stove. Just yesterday I went with my boyfriend for a walk by the river side and it was chaotic,the floor was all dirty with plastic cups,plastic syringes and things like that,half of those most certainly ended up in the river. It was disgusting the smell of beer in the air,why can't people just respect simple things? why must the human being be such a mess and destroy everything without remorse?

I try to tell myself that there's still hope but everyday my spirit is crushed a little.

From spoiled little children that don't value anything, to teenagers that think it is cool and badass to be disrespectful to everyone, even the elderly people are disrespectful these days...

That's one of the reasons I adore photography,I get completely absorbed by what I'm doing and I forget the troubles around me,even if it is just for a few minutes. It makes me see what is beautiful in the middle of the ugly city, even if it is just a flower on the side of the road or a little moss on a painted wall. It makes me believe there's still hope..

Fuchsia Magellanica and Childhood

Fuchsia magellanica is the scientific name for this flower,

I used to love this flower when I was a kid.
My neighbor had a garden full of these and she used to pick some for me every now and then so I could play with them,pretending they were earings (In Portugal this flower is called "Princess earings").

I used to visit her almost every day,I loved her dogs to death,really she had the sweetest female dog I've ever met,she was called Linda.

Linda's son was like his mother,just as kind and affectionate but one day,he bit my face,I got lucky and only got a little scar,I could have lost an eye.

But still my love for that dog never died and it was painfull to hear the news about the death of mother and son.

I loved the older women from my street,they were always so lovable,probably because they were alone since their kids were all grown up and with their own families. I used to spend a lot of afternoons with them,I loved talking with them and listen to their stories and some of them used to give me tea and cookies!

How I miss the strawberry tea!

Those were times when people trusted each other, there were no dangers always looking,people weren't so greedy and malicious towards each others...or maybe it was just from my childish naive eyes...

Alvarenga

Sometimes I need to run away from everything and when I feel like that I always remember a little place that eases my heart,a place where I can breathe deeply and rest my mind.

The place I'm writing about is called Alvarenga (north of Portugal) , it's where my grandparents used to live and now it's where they have their eternal rest.
 If you like nature and peace you should try and visit it, you won't regret it. The photo was taken there,in one of the mountains but I can't remember which one!:(

After the hot rain

Today the weather is awful,looks like we're in a tropical country! Wind,high temperatures and rain!One of the things I hate the most is hot rain...the air gets all sticky!:( I even had to let my dogs get inside the house because of the bad weather.

Well,I was hoping to take some after the rain shots but the heat is so much that nothing is wet, so here stays a photo of my vine, not a great photo but the best I could do since I can't go out of my yard.

Have a great day!